Table of Contents
FOREWORD
As I look back now, these many years later, I wonder: Who would have thought that a decision made on an autumn day in New York City in 1968 would change the course of my life to the amazing degree that it has? As I write this foreword to the reissued classic The Power of Decision by Raymond Charles Barker, I realize that decision pole-vaulted my life to a new level of success and happiness, and a passion for living, unknown in my younger years. It was because of this decision that I became a teacher and a Doctor of Divinity, teaching the principles contained in this book you now hold in your hands.
In September 1967, while on a visit to New York City, I attended a lecture by Raymond Charles Barker. A friend had heard Dr. Barker speak at New Yorks Town Hall theater and was certain I would revel in hearing his message of deep inspiration and practical spiritual wisdom. I was greatly impressed. That lecture prepared me for the decision that was to come.
The experience of my earlier years before meeting Dr. Barker was, for the most part, miserable. I believed then that God, and everyone else, would make all decisions for me. I believed I was inadequate to the task of knowing what I wanted and acting on well-thought-out decisions. Simply put, I had misplaced faith that God would provide or that wiser people than I were in charge, and any involvement on my part had no relevance.
I was living the statement in Dr. Barkers book that came to mean so much to me:
Indecision is actually the individuals decision to fail.
I was very skilled in proving the truth of that teaching. My lack of participation in the decisions of my life was, in fact, a decision, in its own right, to fail.
The decision that changed my life, in February 1968, was a commitment on my part to meet this great man and convince him of the merit of my becoming his student. I decided I would do whatever it took to attend his classes and lectures, even though I was living in Los Angeles at the time.
Dr. Barker became my mentor, teacher, and professional prayer counselor, and ultimately, my dear friend, and was so from February 1968 through the remaining twenty years of his life. My decision to master the teachings and follow the counsel of this man gave me then, and still gives me today, the greatest of lifes gifts. I am further encouraged that more and more people are realizing the ageless wisdom contained in Dr. Barkers books, not only about the power of making decisions, but also about spiritual wisdom for all of lifes experiences that those decisions affect.
In the years from 1968 to his death in 1988, I had the opportunity to interact with Dr. Barker in many different settings, and I observed that he always remained the master of spiritual principle that he was in the pulpit or in class. For example, as we cruised once to Bermuda, I watched him hold court on deck, speaking spiritual truth to all who passed by. I visited him in his Upper East Side condominium in Manhattan, where he had a panoramic view uptown, downtown, and westward from his thirty-fourth-floor apartment. However, what he really loved was the opulence of living over a Rolls-Royce dealership. I attended the theater with him one evening, and remember him saying, Lloyd, youll never know how many people decide to go to a baseball game, to the theater, or to the opera and completely forget about what ails them. As they are entertained, they make an unconscious decision, in that moment, to be healed.
A master of the spiritual techniques of manifesting a greatly satisfying life, Dr. Barker insisted on a no-nonsense approach to decision making. He spoke with spiritual authority and appreciated that authority when hearing it from others. He was precise, orderly, and punctual. Anyone in his presence knew that this man had it all figured out. All his students were inspired to emulate his techniques of success. He had no time for timidity, but he had devotion and commitment to anyone who practiced his teachings and decided to succeed in life.
His stature as a powerful sage of absolute faith and understanding about how life works and how we are to work it is how I will remember him, always. I strive in my own teaching to call forth the spiritual authority that I learned from this great man. He never beseeched; he announced! I learned from my mentor, Dr. Barker, to go directly for the spiritual principle when dealing with any life matter. He did not, and I do not, tolerate excuses. I hear his voice admonishing me, The Universe waits for no one. Go forth and pronounce the ultimate Truth. I learned how to make powerful, positive decisions by following the teachings of my teacher, who can now be your teacher as well.
I am certain your decision to acquire this book will do no less for you than it has done for me these many years. I wish you countless demonstrations of success in your own life, based on skillful and spiritually powerful decisions.
LLOYD GEORGE TUPPER
INTRODUCTION
Would you like to be more enthusiastic about your life and more effective in your efforts? Would you like to know how to enjoy more success in your work and in your relationships? If doubts hold you back, wouldnt it be exciting to know how to let those doubts go, once and for all?
You hold in your hands a book that will inspire you to live the most fulfilling life you have ever imagined. You will learn life skills that will support your success in every endeavor, whether personal or professional. Even after reading only the first chapter, you will know that whatever challenges have thwarted you in the past, there is a positive way through them now.
The Power of Decision was first published in 1968. Its author, Dr. Raymond Charles Barker, was a gifted teacher, minister, and speaker, who filled New Yorks Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center every Sunday morning. This book is more than a set of lessons in how to make better decisions. It is a manual for youthe choice maker, the constructor of your fulfilling life, the manager of your own mindto become the powerful, productive, happy person you were born to be. In the first chapter, Dr. Barker tells the reader:
You are Intelligence, capable of knowing the right idea at the right time to make the right decision.
This book, a classic in Mental Science, has sold many thousands of copies since its first publication. It has been used in universities, churches, business seminars, and Master Mind groups, and by countless individuals to assist them to live the life they really want to live.
No matter whether you consider yourself religious, spiritual, agnostic, business-oriented, family-centered, a seeker, a leader, a builder of relationships, or any descriptor you prefer, this book will be useful to you as you create your life of choice. Dr. Barker explains that you, and you alone, are responsible for your level of satisfaction. He writes:
Intelligence created you and set you free on a path of self-discovery and self-decision.
Dr. Barker describes how we create our own experiences, whether we are aware of this creative activity in ourselves or not. That which we are experiencing, we have created through the law of cause and effect. In forceful and direct language, Dr. Barker admonishes us to watch our alibis, stop glorying in our martyrdom, refrain from indecision, and cease being satisfied in complacency. He does not let us off the hook of our own thinking. But he also does not leave us awash in what
